Bryan Cranston on "Wakefield" and a crash course in intimacy
Bryan Cranston knows how to get intimate – fast. The actor gave "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King a crash course in intimacy when he joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss his new movie, "Wakefield."
"Wakefield" had to come together quickly, Cranston said, so the director had him and co-star Jennifer Garner take an actual course to rapidly develop the intimacy their characters needed to portray.
"We were supposed to be a couple that knew each other very well and for a long time. So, we didn't have any time to rehearse so we took this quick little intimacy course, the two of us," Cranston was saying when King interrupted with: "Let me see it."
He obliged. The two stood face-to-face, noses just inches apart. There they stayed.
"If we're just able to breathe in each other's essence, right, and be real close, then after a moment we can actually touch each other's fingers and you get a sense of trusting me…" Cranston explained.
Back at the table, King admitted that giggles aside, she thinks it actually works.
"In our daily lives we get so out of touch with each other that couples can actually take this course," Cranston said.
In "Wakefield," the "Breaking Bad" star plays a father who hides in the attic of his garage to secretly observe his family.
"He's a man who wants to not confront an issue with his wife," Cranston explained. "He just wants to wait until everyone goes to bed. 'I'll go upstairs then I'll think about it, then in the morning I'll have an explanation why I was out of communication,'" he said of his character's initial reason for hiding out.
But what begins as a respite from an argument with his spouse, turns into an extended stay.
"Each move delays his ability to make a re-entry into his life," he said.
Cranston says it's a cautionary tale about the importance of being present and checking in with your life.
"Wakefield" is now in theaters in New York and will have a wider release May 26.